ROUTE 7 RIVALRY
Rensselaer renews its local rivalry with 11th-ranked Union College this weekend, when it opens its annual home-and-home series against the Dutchmen on Friday nigh at the Houston Field House (7pm) ... The series heads to Schenectady and Messa Rink on Saturday night (7pm).

ENGINEERS EDGED BY UCONN
Connecticut scored three third period goals, including an empty-netter, to defeat RPI, 3-1, on Saturday night in front of 4,282 at the Houston Field House ... Alexander Payusov opened the scoring at 0:37 of the third period, before RPI junior captain Will Reilly tied it at 4:32 ... Max Kalter gave the visitors the lead for good at 9:26 of the final frame, before Payusov registered the final tally with Linden Marshall pulled for an extra skater ... Freshman Tomas Vomacka had 23 saves for the win in his collegiate debut, while Marshall turned away 29 for the second straight contest.

RPI LEADERS
Junior Jacob Hayhurst (3 assists) has a point each games year for a team-high three .... Freshman Jakub Lacka (2 goals) and junior Will Reilly (1 goal, 1 assist) have two points apiece.

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Sophomore Linden Marshall (0-3-0) has a 3.81 goals against average and an .890 save percentage as the starter in each of RPI's first three games ... Freshman Owen Savory made his collegiate debut in the season opener at UMass, stopping 8 of 9 shots in the third period ... He has a 3.03 goals against average and an .889 save percentage.

ALL-TIME VS. UNION
RPI leads the all-time series with the Dutchmen, 51-40-10, which dates back to the first ever meeting on February 26, 1904 – a 6-2 Engineers win in Albany ... RPI won five of the first six meetings, but has never won more than four consecutive games against the Dutchmen ... Union owns a 10-game winning streak and is currently on a seven-game run.

RECENTLY
The Dutchmen are 7-3-0 over the last 10 meetings, including victories in the last seven ... RPI won 6 of 7 prior to the current Union winning streak, which includes the last two non-conference Mayor's Cup games at the Times Union Center ... Four of the last five Union wins have been by a single goal, while the other was a 4-2 win that included an empty-netter.

2017-18 VS. THE DUTCHMEN
Union took all three of last year's meetings by scores of 4-3 and 4-2 in ECAC Hockey play, as well as 4-3 at the Mayor's Cup on January 27 ... The Dutchmen took a 4-1 lead in the series opener at Messa, before RPI fought back with third period goals by Billy Jerry and Evan Tironese to draw within 4-3 ... In Troy the next night, Jake Marrello and Brady Wiffen scored second period goals to give RPI a 2-1 lead heading into the third ... Union then tallied three times in the final frame, including the eventual game-winner off the stick of Anthony Rinaldi ... In the Mayor's Cup, Union jumped out to a 4-0 lead 3:44 into the second period, before RPI's comeback effort came up just short in a 4-3 decision ... TJ Samec, Jerry and Jared Wilson had RPI's goals.

UNION SWEEPS NORTHEASTERN
The Dutchmen took both games of a road series at Northeastern last weekend, winning 4-3 in overtime on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday ... Cole Maier potted the OT-winner against the Huskies, after Sebastian Vidmar tied the game with 1:57 left in regulation ... Union then built a 2-0 lead in the second game of the series, before Vidmar put the game away with six minutes to play in the third period ... Goaltender Darian Hansen made a combined 68 saves on the weekend.

BIG CROWD
The Engineers drew 4,282 fans to Houston Field House for their game against UConn on Saturday ... It was the largest home crowd since RPI hosted Union in its home opener on October 28, 2017 – a 4-2 Dutchmen victory in front of 4,716 ... Rensselaer had crowds of 4,000 (Big Red Freakout) and 3,959 (Clarkson) last year as well.

REILLY IN OCTOBER 
Junior defenseman Will Reilly now has three goals and six assists for nine points in the month of October, going to back his freshman season.

FIRST GOAL
Freshman Jakub Lacka netted his first collegiate goal just 15 minutes into his first game, scoring on the power play in the first period at UMass on October 12 ... He added his second goal the following evening at the Houston Field House.

FIRST POINT
Rookie defenseman Kyle Hallbauer earned his first collegiate point – an assist – against the Minutemen on October 12 in Amherst.

PENALTY KILL IMPROVEMENT
After going 3 for 7 in the season-opener at UMass, the Engineers have killed off 6 of 6 chances shorthanded, including 

STAYING OUT OF THE BOX
Rensselaer has taken the eighth fewest penalties among the 51 teams that have played so far this season ... The Engineers have been assessed 13 minor penalties for 26 minutes.

STREAK SNAPPED
The Engineers saw their six-game unbeaten streak (3-0-3) against UConn snapped on Saturday night, when the Huskies came away with a 3-1 win.

RECENTLY IN LEAGUE PLAY
Over the last four seasons, RPI has gone 26-51-11 in ECAC Hockey play, including an 8-7-7 mark in 2015-16 – it's most season finishing above .500.

2017-18 IN ECAC HOCKEY
Rensselaer went 4-16-2 in league play last year, but the four victories came against first-ranked Cornell, St. Lawrence, Yale and Quinnipiac. 

NEW FACES
Thirteen players will potentially debut for the Engineers this season, including 10 freshmen ... Three junior transfers include Mike Gornall (North Dakota), Shane Bear (UMass) and Chase Zieky (Northeastern).

SCHEDULE NOTES
Rensselaer will play 15 home games out of the 34 on its schedule ... Six of those contest will come before the calendar turns to December ... The Engineers visit Notre Dame for a two-game series on November 30 and December 1 ... RPI will compete in the TD Bank Catamount Cup at the University of Vermont in late December, taking on Hockey East foes Northeastern and the host Catamounts ... The Seventh Annual Mayor's Cup at the Times Union Center will take place on January 19.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
The Engineers went 2-6-0 against teams ranked in the Top 20 of the USCHO.com poll last year ... RPI fell at then-No. 13 Clarkson, 6-0, on November 3 and defeated then-No. 16 Quinnipiac, 5-3, on November 10 ... Rensselaer was swept by No. 4 Notre Dame on November 17 and 18 ... The Engineers were defeated, 2-0, by then-No. 5 Clarkson, 2-0, in the Friendship Four opener on November 24 ... Rensselaer defeated No. 1 Cornell on February 3, 2-1 in Ithaca.